The North Morecambe Field, Block 110/2a, East Irish Sea

The North Morecambe Gas Field in the East Irish Sea Basin was discovered by well 110/2-3 in 1976 and contains ultimately recoverable reserves of over one TCF. THe structure is fault closed on three sides and dip closed to the north. Development was by ten conventionally drilled high angle deviated wells, from a not normally manned platform. Gas is exported through a dedicated pipeline to a new terminal at Barrow. The Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Group reservoir is composed of sandstones deposited in a semi-arid, fluvial and aeolian setting. Thin aeolian sandstones dominate flow into the well bore. Platy illite reduces the permeability by two to three orders of magnitude in the lower, illite affected zone of the reservoir, RFT measurements from the first development well proved that the free water level was 25 feet higher than expected, giving a maximum gas column of 975 feet. Re-mapping after drilling has shown that 56% of the GIIP is contained in the high permeability illite-free zone.